We are clinical researchers from the University Medical Center in Hamburg (Germany). For years, we have been conducting research on psychological factors underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present study, we are conducting an online study examining the effectiveness of the latest version of the self-help manual “myMCT” (my metacognitive training).

Conditions for participation: 1. To participate in the study it is necessary that you have symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or are diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).2. You should not take part in this study if you have a bipolar disorder or a psychosis. Also you should not take part if you have suicidal ideation.3. If you agree to participate in the study, you will be asked to take part in a pre survey in written form via the internet – which you have to complete first – and after six weeks to take part in a similar post survey. Both surveys will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. 4. If you agree to participate in the study, we will ask you to leave your email address so that we are able to send you the self-help manual.

The study

You will be assigned to one of two conditions after you have filled out the anonymous online survey on your current symptom. You will either be assigned to a “treatment group” and receive the “myMCT” self-help manual immediately or you will be assigned to the “waitlist group” and receive the manual after a period of six weeks. Six weeks after you complete the first survey, you will be invited to participate in the post survey. After participating in the post survey the waitlist group will be sent the self-help manual. Each participant will thus eventually receive the self-help manual free of charge as well as another manual to express our gratitude for participation. As it is an ongoing study, please do not pass on the manual to others. To participate, please use the following link:

Study participation is free of charge and anonymous. The terms for participation will be repeated in more detail on the website of the survey. In case of questions please do not hesitate to contact us via email: sarahcatherine.murray@stu.uni-kiel.de

First of all, we would like to thank you that we have been granted the opportunity to post an invitation for our study in this forum. As you may recall several weeks ago we advertised a study on the efficacy of a treatment manual called myMCT, which is available at no cost via http://clinical-neuropsychology.de/meta ... mymct.html .While we believe that face-to-face treatment is superior to self-help, the harsh reality is that many individuals with OCD do not receive evidence-based therapy because of a dearth of therapists in remote areas, financial as well as structural issues (e.g., health insurance). Moreover, many individuals with OCD are reluctant to turn to a therapist for various fears, including shame. myMCT is a transtherapeutic approach, meaning that it incorporates elements from CBT, the most evidence-based treatment so far, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and metacognitive training (i.e., teaching individuals about cognitive bias contributing to OCD). Sometimes, differences among these therapeutic views are over-emphasized in our view and we tried to amalgam the exercises into a coherent manual. OCD is a disorder with perhaps many underlying causes and there is no “one size fits it all”. Whether this approach is successful or not was the target of our trial.We are grateful that 70 people with (self-reported) OCD participated in the trial, whereby 80% also participated in the post-assessment (this percentage is deemed normal). Many individuals displayed severe symptoms (total score of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale = 22.9 points) and medium levels of depression (PHQ-9, mean: 11.1 points). Following baseline assessment via the Internet, half of the sample was allocated to a wait-list control group (these received the manual following study period) and the other half to the myMCT condition (manual was attached as pdf file along with homework). Of those who received the manual all except for four people actually read (parts) of it. Statistical analyses showed that Y-BOCS total scores dropped by 7.5 points in the treatment condition (myMCT) and remained virtually unchanged in the wait-list control condition. Group differences in favor of myMCT were beyond chance (i.e., the difference was significant). Likewise, depression improved substantially in the myMCT group, again beyond chance. Whether these effects are sustained has to be demonstrated by future studies. However, this is now the fourth study demonstrating the efficacy of the approach so we are hopeful (prior studies evaluated beta versions of the manual). While most individuals showed some benefit from the treatment, a minority did not and 13% commented that they are not intending to use the manual in the future. Again, the manual is available for free at www.uke.de/myMCT. Feel free to share it with others and we are also open for comments or improvements – experts by profession and experts by experience must work more closely together.

UKEGermany hat geschrieben:Again, the manual is available for free at http://www.uke.de/myMCT. Feel free to share it with others and we are also open for comments or improvements – experts by profession and experts by experience must work more closely together.